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Punch-Drunk Love

Actor(s): Adam Sandler, Emily Watson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Luis Guzman, Mary Lynn Rajskub
Director(s): Paul Thomas Anderson
105

Movie Details

MPAA Rating: R
Content Advisory: Mild Violence, Adult Situations, Profanity
Movie Release: 2002
DVD Release: 12/02/2003
Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV - Closed Captioned
Audio Tracks: English, French
Subtitles: English, French
SwapaDVD Credits: 1
Number of Discs: 1
Run Time: 1 hrs 35 mins
Studio: Columbia TriStar
Members Wishing: 1
Genres: Comedy Drama, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Absurd Comedy
See Also: Punch-Drunk Love, Punch-Drunk Love [Widescreen] [with Zohan Movie Ticket]

DVD Synopsis

Adam Sandler and Emily Watson star in Punch-Drunk Love, an odd romantic comedy from gifted young director Paul Thomas Anderson. Sandler plays Barry Egan, a shy sad-sack with a great deal of repressed anger that occasionally bursts forth in sudden violent outrages, who falls in love with Lena Leonard (Emily Watson), a co-worker of one of Barry's seven sisters. After calling a phone-sex line, Barry is extorted by bad-guy Dean Trumbell (Anderson regular Philip Seymour Hoffman), who eventually sends four goons to assault Barry and get the money. This film was screened in competition at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, where Paul Thomas Anderson was named Best Director. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Actors

Adam Sandler - Barry Egan
Emily Watson - Lena Leonard
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Dean Trumbell
Luis Guzman - Lance
Mary Lynn Rajskub - Elizabeth

Editorial Review of DVD

After its initial DVD release in a two-disc "Superbit" edition, this lower-priced single-disc release of Paul Thomas Anderson's off-kilter comedy (featuring an appealingly low-key performance from Adam Sandler) still offers a sound presentation of the material. Punch-Drunk Love has been given a letterboxed transfer to disc at the widescreen aspect ratio of 2.35:1 with the images enhanced for anamorphic playback on 16 x 9 monitors. The original English audio track is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1, while a dubbed French audio track is in Dolby Digital Stereo. Optional English and French subtitles are also included. The film's theatrical trailers have been added to this edition as a bonus. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Member Movie Reviews

S A A. (Learned2Heal) wrote on 12/14/2008...

Written and Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood, Magnolia, Boogie Nights), this movie is visually and psychologically very interesting. It has a fairly quirky but riveting plot, with Adam Sandler playing a character very different from his usual silly, vapid fare. Emily Watson is a surprise in her role as the main character's love interest, and handles it very well indeed.

The synopsis on this page does not do it justice but, in truth, it would be hard to measure up to that task. Although, I should add that the "violence" alluded to is hardly worth mentioning. It crops up very briefly here and there, just to give you a sense of the frustration and inner turmoil of the main character. In fact, through most of the movie he is a very easy-going, gentle, ultimately repressed soul.

Philip Seymour Hoffman has a few brief but welcome scenes as one of the main bad guys. As always, he is brilliant.

Many of this movie's scenes seem almost like dream sequences, even though they are not. It has some good chuckles and a few, unexpected, audio-visual shocks. Good ones that leave you gasping because they were so well crafted and so unexpected.

Overall. this is a "you gotta see it to see what I mean" kind of movie.

The nominations and awards given to this movie were all very well earned, IMO.

A very unusual movie that stays with you. In a good way. IMDB rates it 7.4/10. I would give it a 3.8/5.